Powerpoints were quickly abandoned as they chose instead to offer basic introductions and then quickly begin to answer members’ penetrating questions. “What about the migration of ’investing solely to make more money’ to investing from both heart and bottom line? How real is that? What are the stats?”

Spinelli spelled out staggering statistics on crowdfunding, including its current growth at a pace of 81 percent a year. President Obama’s passage of the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups), she said, helps entrepreneurs grow, hire and raise capital through online investment. Companies are now allowed to sell up to 50 million in shares before registering with the SEC and can double the current limit of shareholders to 1000… That diminishes the power and role of venture capitalists as middlemen to startups and empowers crowdfunding as a new norm for realizing dreams.